Aims of the Research Group

Electronic Systems design faces some unique and formidable challenges when its products are placed outside the relative protection of the Earth's atmosphere. The wide temperature swings, the corrosive action of any residual gases, the high levels of ionizing radiation and the very low pressure greatly exacerbate the failure mechanisms of most systems, and the inaccessibility for repair and maintenance generally compounds the problem. The great cost of putting devices into orbit also places severe constraints on size, mass and energy consumption.

This research group was formed out of the realisation that solving such technical problems would result in novel technologies that will find important applications in numerous earth-bound scenarios. This could only be achieved by combining the expertise of several specialists brought-in from a wide range of engineering and science disciplines.